Originally published October 3 2005
Superbug in Chicago leaves victims in shock-like condition
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Yet another drug-resistant bacteria strain has surfaced, this time in Chicago, where a staph germ has left doctors with grave concerns over the shock-like condition the bacteria causes.
The cases show that this already worrisome staph germ (search) has become even more dangerous by acquiring the ability to cause this shock-like condition.
"There's a new kid on the block," said Dr. John Bartlett of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, referring to the added strength of the superbug known as methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (search), or MRSA.
The Chicago deaths were described in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.
Health officials do not yet know how the drug-resistant staph causes this new syndrome, but it appears to be rare, said Dr. Clifford McDonald, an epidemiologist with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
However, doctors should be on the lookout for shock-like cases caused by MRSA, said Dr. Robert Daum, a pediatrician at the University of Chicago who co-authored the study.
In 1999, drug-resistant staph infections killed four healthy children ranging in age from 1 to 13 years old in Minnesota and North Dakota.
Since then, doctors have actively looked for such infections in their community.
In the cases reported in Thursday's medical journal, the baby and two toddlers who died were otherwise healthy before they were separately admitted to a Chicago hospital with pneumonia-like symptoms between 2000 and 2004.
The children died within a week of being hospitalized and autopsies showed they suffered from shock and bleeding in the adrenal gland.
Until recently, drug-resistant staph infections were limited to hospitals and other health care settings where they can spread to patients with open wounds and cause serious complications.
But infectious disease specialists say a growing number of community-acquired resistant staph infections have struck healthy people outside of hospitals in recent years.
The first Chicago death occurred in 2000 when a 15-month-old girl was diagnosed with severe pneumonia.
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